The present invention is directed to a palletizing apparatus and method and, in particular, to a stacking apparatus and method for multi-layer stacking of objects on a support. The invention is particularly adapted to stacking objects on a support with the objects having different dimensions in order to form a stacked support. Such apparatus and method are generally referred to as “mixed-case” palletizing.
In mixed-case palletizing, different considerations must be taken into account which increase the complexity compared with stacking of uniformly dimensioned objects. An object to be stacked can only be stacked or placed on previous or preceding objects that are capable of supporting the object and the stack should be sufficiently stable so that it does not fall over during stacking or transportation.